Integrated electronic disbursement and cash flow management system and method

ABSTRACT

A system and method are provided for managing electronic disbursements transferred from a business client of a financial institution to customers of the business client. The system includes a disbursement instruction processor receiving a disbursement instruction over a network from a business client system, the disbursement instruction processor processing the instruction and performing multiple steps. The steps include using a customer identifier to determine available payment channels for the customer and selecting an electronic payment channel when available payment channels include an electronic payment channel. An electronic disbursement notification is forwarded to the customer. A confirmation may be provided upon acceptance of the disbursement through the disbursement notification.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional application of U.S. application Ser.No. 14/106,999 filed Dec. 16, 2013, which is a continuation-in-partapplication of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/773,855 filed Feb. 22, 2013,which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/762,077filed on Feb. 7, 2013, each of which is hereby incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety. This application is related to U.S. Pat. No.7,949,579 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 60/215,003 and Ser. No.13/735,090, which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the invention are related generally to systems andmethods for managing electronic disbursements within an integrated cashflow management system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Over the past several years, businesses have begun to realize thereduced costs and fees associated with electronic disbursements. Whenprocessing refunds, rebates, rewards, or otherwise refunding money tocustomers, businesses have come to appreciate the simplicity and costeffectiveness of electronic processing. Paper checks can be expensiveboth to issue and ultimately to reconcile. Furthermore, variouse-commerce or e-business solutions have become available that allowindividuals and businesses to perform financial transactions over theInternet through a secure website. This type of service enablescustomers to do their banking or financial transaction processing fromanywhere where Internet access is available. In many cases, a webbrowser is utilized and any normal Internet connection is suitable.Thus, online financial transactions have become commonplace.

However, problems exist with current systems. When receiving refunds orother disbursements customers are often required to contact the businessmaking the disbursements, by phone in order to receive the disbursement.Furthermore, customers typically do not have a choice in how thedisbursement is received. The business will often make the disbursementby issuing a paper check.

From the perspective of businesses, the limited availability of customerinformation prevents businesses from ascertaining how customers wouldlike to receive disbursements or how customers are able to receivedisbursements. Businesses may not have access to bank account or creditcard information that would be required to automatically disburse fundselectronically. Accordingly, the lack of centralization and informationremains a problem for both businesses and customers. Customers oftencannot receive disbursements through their preferred method andbusinesses are often unable to determine a preferred disbursement methodfor each customer.

Third party aggregators have evolved to consolidate payment services.However, even if customers and businesses are able to transfer fundsthrough a third party aggregator, these funds are not linked tofinancial information, which is typically only available through afinancial institution. Thus, bill payment and disbursements are notvisually linked to accounts or to any type of accounting system.Therefore, in order to get a larger financial picture, both businessesand customers must access disparate systems and review the informationavailable from all of these systems.

For business owners, the payables and receivables environment istypically fragmented and includes multiple tools and programs that focuson only individual components of cash flow. These disjointed payablesand receivable processes can have a negative impact on cash flow due tothe incomplete overview available to business owners. Typically,business owners are required to rekey data in order to manuallyreconcile disbursements. Furthermore, business owners may be required torekey data and manually manage disbursements and reimbursements toemployees. Additionally, businesses may not have one consolidated viewof their cash flow and may be required to visit multiple sources inorder to assess cash flow status.

Accordingly, a solution is needed that provides financial institutionclients, particularly organizational entities such as largecorporations, government entities, small businesses, non-profit entitiesetc. (hereinafter referenced as “business clients”) with a solution thatintegrates disbursements into accounting and financial managementsoftware. The solution may be operable to show a complete cash flowpicture by creating an experience that manages movement of money fromstart to finish and offers business owners real time transparency. Tofurther enhance convenience, customers and businesses both want tohandle cash flow while in transit. Therefore, a need exists and asolution is needed for convenient mobile interfaces for generating andaccepting disbursements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In one aspect, the invention includes a method for managing electronicdisbursements transferred from a business client of a financialinstitution to customers of the business client. The method includesreceiving a disbursement instruction from a business client system overa network. A disbursement instruction processor performs steps includinganalyzing the instruction to extract customer identificationinformation, using the customer identification information to determineavailable payment channels for the customer, and selecting an electronicchannel when the available payment channels include an electronicpayment channel. The method additionally includes disbursing the paymentin accordance with the disbursement instruction using the selectedchannel, sending an electronic notification to the customer of thedisbursement, monitoring acceptance of the disbursement by the customer,and notifying the business client when the disbursement expires withoutacceptance by the customer.

In an additional aspect, the invention includes a system for managingelectronic disbursements transferred from a business client of afinancial institution to customers of the business client. The systemincludes a disbursement instruction processor receiving a disbursementinstruction over a network from a business client system. Thedisbursement instruction processor processes the instruction byanalyzing the instruction to extract customer identificationinformation, using the customer identification information to determineavailable payment channels for the customer, and selecting an electronicpayment channel when the available payment channels include anelectronic payment channel. The system additionally includes a clientpayment manager for disbursing the payment in accordance with thedisbursement instruction using the selected payment channel and sendingan electronic notification to the customer of the disbursement and adisbursement status monitor for monitoring acceptance of thedisbursement and for notifying the business client when the disbursementexpires without acceptance.

In yet an additional aspect, a system is provided for managingelectronic disbursements transferred from a business client of afinancial institution to customers of the business client. The systemincludes a disbursement instruction processor receiving a disbursementinstruction over a network from a business client system. Thedisbursement instruction processor uses a customer identifier todetermine available payment channels for the customer and selects anelectronic payment channel when available payment channels include anelectronic payment channel. The system additionally includes an offergenerator for selecting at least one offer based on the disbursementinstruction and a client payment manager for disbursing the payment inaccordance with the disbursement instruction using the selected paymentchannel and sending an electronic disbursement notification to thecustomer, the notification including access to the selected offer.

In yet a further aspect of the invention, a method is provided formanaging transfer of electronic disbursements from a business client ofa financial institution to customers of the business client. The methodincludes receiving at a disbursement instruction processor, adisbursement instruction over a network from a business client system,the disbursement instruction processor processing the instruction to usea customer identifier to determine available payment channels for thecustomer and select an electronic payment channel when available paymentchannels include an electronic payment channel. The method additionallyincludes extracting information from the disbursement instruction usingan offer generator, the information including customer data and clientdata, the offer generator accessing an offer database and selecting atleast one offer based on the extracted information and correlating theoffer with the disbursement. The method further includes distributingthe disbursement using the selected payment channel and sending anelectronic notification of the disbursement to the customer, thenotification including access to the selected offer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is described in detail below with reference to theattached drawings figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an operating environment for adisbursement processing system in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a cash flow managementtransaction flow that may be incorporated in embodiments of theinvention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating interaction between adisbursement processing system and other components of the cash flowmanagement system in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating components of the disbursementprocessing system in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 5A is a flow chart illustrating a disbursement processing method inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5B is a flow chart illustrating a disbursement processing method incombination with offer generation in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention;

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating further details of the disbursementprocessing method in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a user interface illustrating a business client mobile devicelanding page in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a user interface illustrating a customized disbursementnotification email in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a user interface illustrating a customer landing page fordisbursement review in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;and

FIG. 10 is a user interface illustrating branded deals and offers inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a system and methodfor providing financial institution clients, particularly businesses,which may include large corporate clients, small businesses,governmental entities, non-profit entities, etc. with a cash flowmanagement solution that allows for a cost effective and efficientmethod of distributing and reconciling disbursements and integratingdisbursement data into accounting and financial management software.Embodiments of the invention allow the business clients to distributedisbursements to customers without possessing any financial accountinformation from the customers. Systems and methods of the inventionleverage the data available to the entity hosting the system, which maybe a financial institution, to facilitate the disbursement process.

Embodiments of the system have an open architecture that facilitatesintegration with enterprise resource platforms and external softwareproviders including invoicing and accounting software, such asQuickbooks™, to create an integrated product suite. Thus, in embodimentsof the invention, if a business client issues a disbursementnotification, any redemption of the disbursement will be automaticallyidentified and reconciled. Accordingly, embodiments of the inventionoffer a consistent experience across devices and channels. Thedisbursement system and method disclosed herein may facilitate multipletypes of disbursements, including, but not limited to, payments tocontractors, payroll, compensatory reimbursements, insurancedisbursements, rebates, and refunds.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an operating environment for acash flow management 100 system in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention. A host system 50 includes the cash flow management system100. The cash flow management system 100 includes a disbursementprocessing system 400. These systems are connected over a network 2 withother systems including client systems 10, customer systems 30, paymentservice providers 40, and billing service providers 60. Other externalsystems may also be connected.

The host system 50 may be or include a host platform at a financialservices firm or financial institution. Accordingly, the host system 50may include many financial management systems that are not shown. Forexample, the host system 50 may include account processing systems,credit card processing systems, and other known financial systems.Furthermore, the host system 50 is able to store and access accountinformation in order to facilitate disbursement distribution. The hostsystem 50 preferably provides a website for customers and through thiswebsite, business clients may leverage the cash flow management system100 disclosed herein and customers may access electronic bill paymentfunctions also described herein.

The cash flow management system 100 provides a financial managementframework. As will be further set forth below, the cash flow managementsystem 100 simplifies cash flow management for business owners andallows convenient visualization of cash flow for businesses.

The disbursement processing system 400 operating within the cash flowmanagement system 100 may be provided to manage disbursements from thebusiness client systems 10 to the customer systems 30. The disbursementprocessing system 400 is described in greater detail with reference tothe additional FIGs.

The network 2 is preferably the Internet, but may be or include othertypes of networks. Furthermore, even though only one network is shown,multiple networks may be used. For example, payment service providersystems 40 may communicate over a different network with the cash flowmanagement system 100 and payer systems 30. The network 2 may include awired or wireless local area network (LAN) and a wide area network(WAN), wireless personal area network (PAN) and other types of networks.Computers may be connected over the Internet, an Intranet, Extranet,Ethernet, or any other system that provides communications. Somesuitable communications protocols may include TCP/IP, UDP, or OSI forexample. For wireless communications, communications protocols mayinclude Bluetooth, Zigbee, IrDa or other suitable protocol. Furthermore,components of the system may communicate through a combination of wiredor wireless paths.

The client systems 10 may include computing systems adapted for businessuse. From the client systems 10, business clients (which may includelarge corporations, small businesses, non-profits, sole proprietorships,governmental entities, etc.) are able to utilize disbursementfunctionality available through the disbursement processing system 400to enable execution of disbursements from notification to fulfillment.Thus the client systems 10 may include at least one processor andmultiple applications executed on the processor capable of performingaccounting functions, invoicing functions, and other financialprocessing functions. The client systems 10 may include a browser foraccessing financial software applications provided by the host system 50or other connected systems that offer such functionality over theInternet or any other network. The client systems 10 may additionally beor include mobile systems, such as smart phones, tablets, or otherportable computing apparatus. Mobile client systems may executedownloadable applications for operating in conjunction with the cashflow management system 100. The downloadable applications may be storedin memory and executed by processors on the mobile systems and mayprovide a plurality of user interfaces. The downloadable applicationsmay include, for example, applications that when executed, facilitatedisbursement distribution. The applications may also facilitate receiptcapture or invoice capture using integral features.

The customer systems 30 may also include any types of computing systemsincluding desktop or laptop computers or mobile devices. Customers maybe individuals, families, businesses, or other entities. From thecustomer systems 30, customers may receive notification of availabledisbursements and have the ability to accept or decline receipt of thedisbursements. These customer systems 30 may also be equipped with imagecapture equipment for capturing images of the customer or of receipts orinvoices for later use. The customer systems 30 may include a browsercapable of accessing online bill payment systems and other financialmanagement systems. The customer systems 30 may also be or includemobile systems including any handheld mobile devices with internetaccess such as iPhones™ or other mobile, phones, tablets, or any otherknown devices. The mobile customer devices may execute downloadableapplications for operating in conjunction with the cash flow managementsystem 100. The downloadable applications may be stored in memory andexecuted by processors on the mobile systems and may provide a pluralityof user interfaces.

Disbursements may be made using one of multiple payment channels offeredby payment service providers 40 or through the host system 50. However,in embodiments of the invention, the disbursements are made throughelectronic payment channels, preferably offered by the host system. Suchpayment channels are not only efficient, but also inexpensive, asinterchange fees may, in some instances, be avoided. Examples ofelectronic payment providers include independent providers, such asPayPal®, mobile phone providers, groups of financial institutions, withcollaborative payment channels, and individual banks, providing systemssuch as QuickPay®, offered by JPMorgan Chase®. Financial institutionsmay execute these payments free of charge for approved individuals, suchas banking customers. Using this option, payers who hold accounts withthe financial institution may respond to a push notification from amobile application to accept or decline a disbursement. In embodimentsof the invention, these actions may be executed without the need forcustomer login. In embodiments of the invention, similar functionalitythrough the mobile application may be available to customers who do nothold accounts with the financial institution.

Additionally or alternatively to the delivery of disbursementnotification through electronic payment channels, the host system 50 maycommunicate through push notifications that may be conveyed throughmobile or desktop applications and/or SMS notifications. Furthermore, inaddition to providing a link to view disbursement details, the email,text, or other form of push notification may allow the disbursement tobe received and appropriately directed without requiring logincredentials or other actions from the recipient. The push notificationmay allow the disbursement to be accepted with one click or tap on thenotification or in the case of SMS messages, with a return text. Thereturn text message may, for example, simply convey the message “ACCEPT”or “DECLINE” an alternative message.

The payment service provider systems 40 may be operated by paymentservice providers (PSPs) that offer businesses online services foraccepting electronic payments by a variety of payment methods includingcredit card, bank-based payments such as direct debit, bank transfer,and real-time bank transfer based on online banking. Some PSPs provideservices to process other next generation methods (Payment systems)including cash payments, wallets such as PayPal®, Adyen™, and WebMoney™,prepaid cards or vouchers, and even paper or e-check processing. In someembodiments, electronic payments of vouchers may be implemented asscannable barcodes, such as a QR code, a UPC barcode, a matrix barcode,or similar type of code.

For example, an airline reimbursing customers for an overbooked flightwith travel vouchers may disburse a voucher by transmitting a QR code tothe traveler's mobile device. An airline may announce that a flight isoverbooked, and is willing to offer travelers a travel voucher inexchange for rescheduling for a later flight. Travelers with flexibletravel plans typically approach the ticket counter and present theirpaper airline ticket (travelers who store their travel tickets on theirmobile device or smartphone may present their mobile device displayingan electronic ticket), in exchange for a voucher. In embodiments of theinvention, after a traveler presents their ticket to the ticket counter,the airline personnel may then send a voucher in the form of a scannablebarcode to the traveler. The airline may send the voucher using any oneof the electronic channels discussed above, such as for example, bye-mail. In other embodiments, the airline may send the barcode to thetraveler's smartphone or mobile device. The traveler may then presentthe barcode at a cooperating merchant for redemption, in the same manneras the traveler would redeem a paper voucher. In other embodiments ofthe invention, a traveler may receive an alert or notification of thevoucher offer on a mobile application running on their mobile device orsmartphone. Upon receipt of the alert or barcode, the mobile applicationmay also present the details of the terms and conditions of the voucher.As described above, the mobile application may provide a user interfacethat includes buttons for the traveler to accept or decline the voucher.

One advantage of representing vouchers as scannable barcodes, is theability to track the use and/or transfer of vouchers after theirredemption, as discussed in more detail below. As discussed below,information about the use of the barcode, such as when, where, or who itwas redeemed by, allows the disbursement processing system to detectsuspicious activity.

Typically, a PSP can connect to multiple acquiring banks, card, andpayment networks. In many cases, the PSP will fully manage thesetechnical connections, relationships with the external network, and bankaccounts. The billing service providers (BSPs) 60 may be or include bethird party aggregators, which collect bills from multiple businessesfor display to payers. They can also create biller direct sites, wherecustomers can view and pay their bills at the biller's website.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating interaction between the hostsystem 50, the business client systems 10, and the customer systems 30in accordance with embodiments of the invention. The host system 50 mayaccept payments from and disburse payments to customer systems 30, butmay also interact with other billing and payment interfaces, such aspayment service providers and systems in order to collect paymentinformation. The host system 50 may include the cash flow managementsystem 100, which interacts with other components of the host system 50as well as software applications, such as accounting applications thatmay be accessed, either within the host system 50 or externally, by thebusiness client computing systems 10 and the customer computing systems30. As illustrated, the host system 50 may host multiple financialsolutions, such as alert systems 210, tax system 220, loan processingsystem 230, expense management system 240, card processing system 260,payroll system 270, and offer system 280. Other systems may also beincluded. The host system 50 also houses or accesses account records 250and additional data relevant to billers and payers.

The alert systems 210 may be connected with client accounts within thefinancial institution host in order to generate alerts regarding creditcard charges, account balances, or account activity generally. Eventsgenerating alerts may be defined by the host system 50 or by accountholders. Alert systems 210 may be configured to generate alerts toclients and/or customers whenever a disbursement is issued, accepted,declined, or expired.

The tax information system 220 may be available to client systems withinformation regarding collected taxes or paid taxes. For example, thetax information system 220 may record the portion of receivablesattributed to tax for a client system and make recommendations toreserve the money for taxes or may in some embodiments arrange for thetax to be paid directly. In embodiments of the invention, the cash flowmanagement system 100 may operate in cooperation with the taxinformation system to track the tax portion for the business client,arrange for extended storage of tax-related documents, and createbuckets to hold tax collected in a different bucket than revenue. Inembodiments of the invention, tax collected would not be available tobusiness clients for uses other than tax payment unless they managetheir controls to make the funds available. Furthermore, the cash flowmanagement system 100 may allow businesses to control access to taxinformation such that financial professionals, such as CPAs, can accessthe business's tax information online.

Additionally, in embodiments of the invention, the disbursementprocessing system disclosed herein may utilize the tax informationsystem 220 to offer a disbursement platform for state and federalgovernmental entities. For example, rather than requiring customers tosubmit account information directly to the governmental entities, thehost system would access stored account information and search customerpreferences and follow disbursement instructions for tax refundsgenerated by the governmental entities.

In other embodiments of the invention, the disbursement processingsystem disclosed herein may allow customers to electronically file taxreturns with state and federal governmental entities utilizing the taxinformation system 220. The state and federal governmental entities maythen disburse tax refunds to the customer through the disbursementplatform. According to some embodiments, the disbursement platform maytrack the tax refunds and automatically match a proportionate amount ofthe disbursement to the tax filer.

The loan processing system 230 may receive and process loan applicationsand may further generate loan information for offers or in response toinquiries. The loan processing system 230 may also process loan paymentsand generate statements. In embodiments of the invention, and as will befurther described below, the cash flow management system 100 may operatein cooperation with the loan processing system 230 in order to create ashort term lending product based on known receivables. The cash flowmanagement system 100 may display an offer for the short term lendingproduct when analysis of business receivables indicates that the productis appropriate.

The expense management system 240 may be or include a system similar tothat described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,949,579, which has been incorporatedby reference. The expense management system 240 may be substantially asdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,949,579 and may be implemented incombination with embodiments of the invention. The expense managementsystem 240 allows clients and customers to view captured data andallocate transactions or percentages of transactions to user-definedcategories. The expense management system 240 receives images ofreceipts from purchasers or receives data from merchants detailing lineitem data from purchases. Once this information is in the expensemanagement system, the system allows users to categorize the informationby project or to otherwise manipulate the information to manage expensesin any convenient manner. In cooperation with the expense managementsystem 240, embodiments of the invention enable the linking of expensesto new or existing invoices. This feature may be particularly usefulwhen billers are working on a time and materials basis and are able totie materials and related expenditures to a particular bill that will betransmitted to a payer. Furthermore, the expense management system 240may also monitor employee-submitted expenses. Thus, through thedisbursement processing system disclosed herein, disbursements toemployees may be made electronically without the employee providingaccount information directly to the employer.

The card processing system 260 may include a system such as those knownin the art for monitoring and processing payment card transactions.Payment cards may include, for example, credit cards, debit cards, smartcards, prepaid cards, etc. The card processing system 260 maycommunicate with other disclosed systems such as the alerts system 210in order to generate alerts and notifications regarding card activity.In embodiments of the invention, the card processing system 260 mayinclude functionality may have the capability to process cardtransactions on behalf of clients as a single submitter and thefinancial institution could manage settlement back to the customersseparately from the normal card settlement process. This functionalitywould enable payment cards to be presented to the system for payment ofinvoices even if the customer does not have a card processingrelationship. Furthermore, in the case of disbursements, customers mayelect to store card information, such as a pre-paid card in theircustomer profile as a preferred destination for stored funds. It iswithin the scope of the invention that some senders of disbursementswill allow a prepaid card as a destination and others will not.

The payroll system 270 may track payroll information for businesses andmay also interact with the other disclosed systems. For example, thecash flow management system 100 may monitor the payroll system 260 andif it finds that a business will have difficulty making payroll, it mayrecommend a loan based on loan information available from the loanprocessing system 230. The payroll system 270 may also feed into theinvoicing process. For example, if an employee or contractor is beingpaid for hours related to a particular job, those hours can be relatedto an appropriate invoice to support billing for time worked andrecorded.

The offer system 280 may be a system that develops and presentscustomized offers for banking customers. The offers may includefinancial products tailored to the customer based on customer behaviors.For example, based on the customer's banking history, the offer system280 may determine that the customer needs a line of credit or that thecustomer might be interested in various investment products. Theoffering of financial products is merely an example, as non-financialproducts may also be offered. In embodiments that will be furtherdescribed herein, the offer system 280 may operate to generate offersfor use in conjunction with electronic bills and disbursements.

The account records 250 may be contained in a hardware storage area andmay include records of customer accounts with the host system 50. Thecustomer accounts may include both business client and customer accountsand may include various types of accounts including checking, savings,investment, mortgage, other types of loan, credit accounts, etc. Theaccount records 250 may be used in cooperation with embodiments of theinvention in order to associate card expenditures or DDA accountexpenditures to an invoice billing the cost of materials to a customer.Furthermore, deposits to accounts may be associated with invoicesgenerated through the system. The data contained in the account records250 may also be useful for analysis required for generation of offers.Disbursements will be debited from the sender's account and credited tothe recipient's account.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating interaction between components ofa cash flow management system 300 in accordance with an embodiment ofthe invention. A customer directory 310 stored in a hardware memorydevice may store customer information and may be available to othercomponents of the cash flow management system 300 as well as to clientand customer systems. A client directory 320 may be stored in the sameor different computer memory device and may include an inventory ofclients. The presence of the clients in the directory 320 enables theclients to be paid through and to make disbursements through a managedpayment delivery mechanism, which may include, for example, an internalsettlement process, electronic funds transfer through ACH, or use ofcheck or electronic payment bundling to expedite delivery.

Clients and customers create entries to allow payment to various payees,which when created, are matched to entries in the directories thatidentify options for making payments, such as the amount of timerequired to deliver the payments and the payment methods supported. Thepayment methods may include, for example, internal DDA, external DDA,credit card, electronic payments, etc.

Business clients are enabled to make disbursements and customers arealso enabled to accept disbursements through the use of the disbursementprocessing system 400. Through the use of the directories 310 and 320,the disbursement processing system 400 allows clients makingdisbursements to view their customers receiving disbursements. Thedirectories 310 and 320 may also be published to third party paymentservice providers and billing service providers so that paying clientsor customers can view these options when interacting with paymentsystems not associated with the host system. In embodiments of theinvention, the directories create a history of payments associated byrecipient. Accordingly, regardless of payment type, a payer, who may bea business client, can view disbursements by recipient.

An invoicing and electronic billing system 340 accesses and updates thedirectories. An integrated receivables management and reconciliationsystem 360 tracks disbursements and matches them with acceptances. Acash flow management engine 330 utilizes the information generated toupdate accounting systems utilized by the business clients to keep thebusiness clients informed of their cash flow situations in real time viavarious user interfaces including a dashboard to provide information andallow interaction. Additionally, the cash flow management engine 330interacts with other systems within the host system to gather datapertinent to the business clients and to provide a user interface tohelp business clients visualize their individual cash flow situations.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the disbursementprocessing system 400. The disbursement processing system 400 mayinclude a disbursement instruction processor 410 linked to a clientpayment manager 420, a customer receipt manager 430, a disbursementstatus monitor 440 and an offer generator 450. These components may alsoaccess a customer database 460, a client database 464, an offer database470, a user interface engine 480, a donation processor 490, and anexternal systems interface 492.

The disbursement instruction processor 410 receives and processes thedisbursement instruction from the business client system. In embodimentsof the invention, the disbursement instruction processor 410 may receivea batch file of payment instructions to be processed through the systemor individual transactions submitted from the business client system orthe user interface by the owner or a delegate of the owner. Datarequired may be manually keyed in or automatically entered. The paymentinstructions will have an identifier for the recipient (email, mobilenumber, etc.), the payer's name, the payer's account information oraccount alias, the amount, a payment descriptor including a short memoon the purpose of the payment, disbursement details, and relevant offercodes. The payment may also include an expiration date. The disbursementinstruction may also include branding information submitted by thebusiness client. In preferred embodiments of the invention, thedisbursement instruction processor preferably provides the businessclient with a user interface allowing the business client to enterinformation pertinent to the disbursement.

Furthermore, the instruction processor 410 may operate to flagsuspicious data. For example a payment may originate from a client, butthe account information doesn't match the expected account information.Every time that a transaction is accepted, the system can monitor dataand launch an investigation if needed.

The payment manager 420 directs the payment as determined by theinstruction processor and further generates and transmits a notificationto the customer regarding the availability of the disbursement. Thenotification preferably provides the customer with the option to acceptor decline the payment. The notification will be delivered through achannel determined by the sender's instructions in combination with anyknown preferences and communication devices for the recipient. Thesystem will search for a channel by order of preference, and may, inembodiments of the invention, disallow channels deemed unacceptable byeither the sender or the recipient. Preferably, the system will select achannel having a highest rank based on sender and recipient preferencesfor distribution. As will be further explained below, the paymentmanager 420 may also combine the notification with an offer tailored tothe recipient of the payment.

The customer receipt manager 430 may provide user interfaces tocustomers to enable them to select preferred and alternate destinationsfor disbursements. For example, customers may want disbursements to goto a checking account, savings account, credit card, virtual account, orother location. In some instances, the number of options may be limited,but the customer receipt manager may enable the customer to selectbetween whichever options are available. The payment manager 420 and thecustomer receipt manager 430 may also operate to match disbursementswith payments redeemed. The receipt manager 430 may further access astored customer profile that dictates handling of payments such as bydirecting the payments to a particular location.

The disbursement status monitor 440 monitors customer activity upondisbursement. In embodiments of the invention, the payment manager 420provides customers with the option to accept or decline thedisbursement. Some disbursements may be distributed with conditions,such as restrictions on how, when, or where a disbursement may be made.For example, a client such as an airline offering vouchers to travelersfor an overbooked flight may restrict the redemption of the voucherswith temporal, geographic, or usage conditions. The airline may restrictthe voucher geographically, by prohibiting the voucher from beingredeemed outside the airport. Likewise, the airline may prohibit thevoucher from being redeemed at certain merchants, at certain times, orfor certain categories of spend. According to some embodiments, thecategories of spend conditions may correspond to merchant codes.

In some embodiments, the conditions may be unacceptable to therecipient. In this instance, the recipient may exercise the option todecline the disbursement. In other instances, the recipient may simplyignore the disbursement. However, disbursements may be generated withexpiration dates such that they must be accepted by the expiration date.In embodiments of the invention, upon expiration of the disbursement,the business client may generate a check to be mailed to the recipientor perform another disbursement method. In other embodiments of theinvention, the disbursement itself may be subject to time limitations,such that the recipient will forfeit the disbursement if it is notaccepted. The disbursement monitor 440 tracks the status of thedisbursement and may generate reminders or notifications to both thebusiness client and customer regarding the status of the disbursement.The disbursement monitor 440 may also generate notifications uponacceptance of the disbursement.

The disbursement status monitor 440 may also operate to flag suspiciousactivity after disbursement. Specifically, the disbursement statusmonitor 440 may gather temporal information (i.e., when) disbursementsare redeemed or transferred after they are accepted by the customer, aswell as contextual information (i.e., how, where, and to whom) thedisbursements are redeemed or transferred. The disbursement statusmonitor 440 may then process this data to identify patterns suggestiveof fraudulent activity. For example, if an airline disbursed numeroustravel vouchers for an overbooked flight, and they were all redeemed atthe same time, date, and merchant, then disbursement status monitor 440may identify this as potentially fraudulent activity, or the merchant asa potentially fraudulent entity. In other embodiments, the disbursementstatus monitor 440, may also analyze data about the merchant and wherethe voucher was redeemed to identify suspicious activity. For example,if records show that a small merchant, such as a restaurant having amaximum seating capacity of 20 diners, redeemed over hundreds ofvouchers at the same time, the disbursement status monitor 440 may flagthe activity as suspicious, as it is unlikely a merchant that smallcould process a volume of vouchers that large. The disbursement statusmonitor 440 may detect anomalies by implementing other patternrecognition techniques well-known in the art.

As another example, the disbursement status monitor 440 may also detectsuspicious activity by monitoring the customer's transfer ofdisbursements. Specifically, records may show that different customersimmediately transfer their disbursements to the same third party. Forexample, five different customers may each transfer their disbursementsto an independent third party within 30 seconds of receiving theirdisbursement. The disbursement status monitor 440 may detect thattransfers to that same third party within such a short time span suggestfraudulent activity.

In some embodiments, the disbursement status monitor 440 may receivethresholds or rules that determine when activity may be determined asfraudulent. For example, if the number of vouchers disbursed andredeemed exceed a given threshold within a given window of time, thedisbursement status monitor 440 may trigger the system to flag activityas suspicious. The offer generator 450 may be an integral part of thedisbursement processing system 400, or alternatively, may be part of anexternal system accessed by the disbursement processing system 400 asshown in FIG. 2. The offer generator 450 may extract information fromthe disbursement instruction, search recent customer activity, searchcustomer demographics, and perform analytic analysis on the collectedinformation in order to generate targeted offers tailored to thecustomer. The offers may be from the business client making thedisbursement or may alternatively originate from other business clientsand may be contained within a database of current offers. The offers mayinclude discounts on future purchases. The business client may beprovided with the capability to define offers, which could include otherincentives or discounts. The business client may tie the offer to thecurrent disbursement. For example, the offer may require redemption ofthe disbursement and selection of another link The offer generator 450may obtain data from multiple sources, such as, for example, the expensemanagement system, which stores line item data from purchases. The offergenerator 450 may provide for tracking of offers and response ratesenabling the business client to monitor customer behavior. Thus, thebusiness client can view how many users received the offer and how manyacted upon the offer. The offer generator 450 may further provide forautomated fulfillment support. For example, the offer generator 450 mayprovide data to the business client pertaining to responders and mayautomatically apply a received discount to a subsequent invoice. Inalternative embodiments, the business client may choose to forgogeneration of offers. In this instance, the host system may implementthe offer generator 450 to generate offers for the business client. Theoffer generator 450 may for example, generate offers for financialproducts such as loans, credit cards, or investment accounts. Otheroffers for non-financial products may also be generated. As a furtheralternative, the host system may sell the advertising space to otherbusiness clients so that an unrelated business client may generateoffers using the offer generator 450 to target customers of otherbusinesses. In embodiments of the invention, customers can choose toassociate or link offers with a particular payment mechanism, such as aparticular payment card. Thus, when customers accept an offer, throughthis linkage, the offer may automatically be applied. In otherembodiments, the offers may be delivered to customers as scannablebarcodes representing a discount or rebate. The offers may then becombined with purchase information to allow customers to redeem theoffers immediately. For example, if a customer receives an offer for arebate on an consumable good, such as a printer, the customer may redeemthe offer by presenting the barcode to the merchant for instantredemption. The offer generator 450 may receive offers from businessclients and store them in the offer database 470. When the offersexpire, the offer generator 450 may remove the expired offers andreplace them with current offers.

In embodiments of the invention, the offer generator 450 may provideinformation rather than offers. For example, the offer generator 450may, based on a current user location, provide a list of localrestaurants where a recipient can spend the received disbursement. Thecustomer database 460, the client database 464, and the offer database470 are contained within hardware storage areas and preferably store andaccumulate information useful both to the host financial institution andthe business clients in order to generate relevant offers. Informationmay be collected from a large number of available sources, including,for example, disbursement requests, account histories, and customerfiles including demographic customer information.

The customer database 460 may store customer profile information.Customers may keep accounts separate or link them together in a singleprofile. Customers may have multiple email addresses, each with adistinct profile. Customer profiles may specify destinations forpayments and may further specify options such as preferred currency. Oneprofile may accept multiple currencies or multiple distinct profiles forthe same customer may be relegated to dealing with different currenciessuch as, for example, bitcoins, pounds, euros, or dollars. The customerprofile may also store customer preferences for receiving disbursements.For example, the customer may elect to receive payments andnotifications via email and/or mobile channels and the payments may berouted directly to a bank account, a prepaid card or prepaid account, orother type of card or account. In embodiments of the invention, thecustomer may rank multiple methods of receiving disbursements and/ornotifications of disbursements. In operation, the system may evaluatethe customer preferences with relation to the sender's preferences andselect a method accordingly. Typically, the customer database 460 doesnot store a customer profile until the customer receives at least onepayment from the system.

In order to register email addresses for new profiles, the systemperforms an authentication process. The system sends an activation codeto the email address. Thus, the system is generally configured forreceiving payments that customers are unaware of in advance and fromsources that do not regularly send payments to the customer.

The data storage areas including the databases 460, 464, and 470 mayinclude one or more databases stored in any convenient type of storagedevice. The data storage areas may include any hardware device suitablefor storing the data and may further implement database tools formanagement of the data, such as for example, disbursement identifiersand business client and customer history information.

The disbursement processing system 400 also includes additionalfeatures, such as the user interface engine 480 that generates userinterfaces for interaction with both clients and customers. Inembodiments of the invention, a user interface is generated allowingdisbursements to customers of the business client who are not customersof the host system. In particular, the system allows business clientsdistributing disbursements to add customization to a user interface sothat customers, when reviewing a disbursement, may be directed to a website that uses the business client's branding to present offers andother functionality. The host system may provide functionality in theform of a white label page for the business client to specify customizeddomains, upload logos or other graphics to display on the page, andallow for customized content or messaging. Thus, when customers of thebusiness client access the web site using a link provided in a pushnotification or other location, the customers will view the customizedinformation, which may include offers.

A donation processor 490 may be provided to allow business clients tosolicit donations for charities in conjunction with disbursements. Thedonation processor 490 may, for example, offer business clients theoption to provide an interface on the disbursement notification fordonating some of the disbursement to a charity. A user interface may beprovided for enabling selection of the charity. Alternatively, thebusiness client may pre-select the charity. In embodiments of theinvention, the donation processor 490 may direct the donations directlyto the account of the charity. The donation processor 490 may also trackand record monetary and other types of contributions.

An external systems interface 492 may allow for communication and datahandling between the disbursement processing system 400 and externalsystems. The external system interface 492 provides for communicationwith systems outside of the electronic billing system, such as thosesystems within the host system shown in FIG. 2 or other externalsystems, such as payment service provider systems, biller systems, andpayer systems. The external system interface 492 may operate to updatethe accounting system, regardless of its location, upon matching aredeemed disbursement with the disbursement notification. While theaccounting system may be located within the host system accessible overthe Internet, it may also be located externally and accessible over theinternet by both the cash flow management system and the billers.

An identity management processor 493 may allow for the disbursementprocessing system 400 to implement identity binding and further enhancethe ability of the system to detect and prevent suspicious andfraudulent activity. The identity management processor 493 may work inconjunction with the other components of the disbursement processingsystem 400 to disambiguate customers with multiple accounts or profiles.For example a customer may have multiple e-mail addresses or accounts inthe customer database 460, customer directory 310, or account records250. The identity management processor 493 enables the disbursementprocessing system 400 to associate this information with a singlecustomer, thereby “binding” the information to a single identity. Insome embodiments, a customer's different accounts may be associated witha biological or biometric feature of the customer. For example, thecustomer's name, address, e-mail, or similar information may beassociated with a photo of the customer. Information such as thecustomer's photo may be stored and accessed from internal or externaldatabases, such as their Facebook account.

One advantage of binding different accounts to a single identity is theability to detect and prevent fraudulent activity. The identitymanagement processor 493 may use a customer's account information inconjunction with customer identity information, such as theirphotograph, to ensure that disbursements are collected and redeemed bythe right person. For example, an airline disbursing vouchers totravelers of an overbooked airline flight may retrieve and access thephotograph of a customer associated with the name on a flight ticket.The airline personnel may then visually confirm that the personrequesting the voucher matches the photo the airline has on file.Similarly, when the customer attempts to redeem a voucher at a merchant,the merchant may retrieve an image of the customer stored on file, andvisually confirm that the image matches the customer redeeming thevoucher. In this way, the disbursement processing system 400 may detectpersons attempting identity fraud or misappropriation of thedisbursements.

FIG. 5A is a flow chart illustrating a method for disbursementprocessing in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The methodbegins in S500 and in S502, the system receives disbursementinstructions from the business client. Preferably, the system providesthe business client with a user interface for entering or uploading datapertinent to the disbursement instruction and the business client isable to easily enter and submit the data to trigger the disbursementprocess. As set forth above, business clients may submit disbursementinstructions individually or in a batch mode. Each disbursementinstruction may include business client identification and a customeridentifier, such as an email address and/or a mobile phone number. Thedisbursement instruction may also include a description of the generalcharacter of the disbursement. For example, the description may indicateif the disbursement is a rebate or refund and what type of product orservice the disbursement is related to. For example, the disbursementmay be related to home furnishings, auto parts, handyman services,electronics, etc. The disbursement instruction also includes an amountand business client account information. In S510, the system runs adisbursement method determination process based on the informationcontained in the disbursement instruction and information contained inthe recipient profile. This process, as will be more fully explainedwith respect to FIG. 6, examines the payment capabilities andpreferences of both the business client and the customer to determinethe appropriate disbursement method. In S520, the system conducts theselected disbursement method. Conducting the disbursement methodincludes issuing a notification of the disbursement, monitoring thestatus of the disbursement, and issuing the actual disbursement bytransferring the payment. The notification of the disbursementpreferably includes a link for acceptance that leads to a confirmationof disbursement page. Thus, to complete acceptance of a disbursement,the recipient merely selects the link and performs no additional steps.

In embodiments of the invention, recipients are identified by emailaccount. Thus, in order to keep funds separated, recipients mayparticipate in the system with multiple email accounts. Thus, a paymentrecipient may use a work email address for reimbursements or paymentsfrom an employer and a personal email address for other payments. As analternative to an email notification, payment recipients may havepayment notifications waiting for them through a website hosted by afinancial institution host server. Thus, payment recipients may be ableto log into their accounts online and see that they have paymentswaiting. The payments may wait in a queue until the payment recipientselects a destination for the payment. The system also provides a mobileapplication so that payments can be made and received via mobiledevices, such as tablets or smartphones. The process ends in S530.

FIG. 5B illustrates a process for offer generation that may occur inparallel to the disbursement generation process shown and described inconnection with FIG. 5A. In S540, the process begins and the systemreceives the disbursement instruction in S542. In S550, the systemanalyzes the disbursement instruction. This analysis may includeanalyzing the recipient information to ascertain the recipient identity,searching for a recipient purchasing or account history based on therecipient identity, searching for a recipient profile, analyzing thepurpose of the disbursement, and analyzing the business client profileand business client offerings. Based on the analyzed data, the systemmay search the offer data based on the analysis in S560 and extract atleast one relevant offer in S570. The system may rank available offersand ask the business client for input regarding proposed offers. Thesystem may additionally supply offers originating from other clients. InS580, the system distributes the offer with a disbursement notification.The offer may be distributed by embedding a link in a disbursementnotification email. If the recipient selects the link, the recipient maybe directed to an interface allowing the recipient to redeem the offer.As set forth above, the various user interfaces available to therecipient may be branded by the business client.

Once a payment is generated through the system in S580, the customerreceiving the payment may receive a branded email explaining that apayment is waiting. (See FIG. 8.) For example, if Facebook® makes apayment to the customer, the customer may receive a branded emailexplaining that Facebook® has made a payment with the amount and thepurpose, such as, for example, a vendor refund. The system would providean interface allowing the recipient to accept the payment. The recipientmay have pre-set, in a profile, a location for received payments. Forexample, the recipient may want the payment deposited directly in a bankaccount. Alternatively, the recipient may have a virtual spending cardand may want the balance of that card augmented. Other transferlocations are within the scope of the invention. The system enablesperiodic reminders to customers who do not immediately accept paymentsand also the opportunity to decline payments. The opportunity to declinepayments is useful in cases where the payment amount is insufficient orincorrect and the recipient does not want acceptance of the payment torepresent an acknowledgement that full payment has been received.

In embodiments of the invention, the payments received could be “limitedspend” payments. For example, if an airline loses luggage, the airlinemay reimburse the recipient with $200, but the $200 dollars may belimited to being spent on future air travel. This limited spend paymentcould be placed on a virtual card or in an account in which it isdesignated as “limited spend”. The process ends in S582.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating further details of the disbursementprocessing method in accordance with a particular embodiment of theinvention. The method starts in S600 and the system receivesdisbursement instructions from the business client in S602. As set forthabove, the disbursement instruction may contain identifying informationand metadata concerning the disbursement. In S606, the system determinesif the business client requesting the payment is enabled for anelectronic payment method, such as an email or mobile payment. In theembodiments of the invention, the electronic payment method is JPMorganChase's QuickPay® (QP), but other electronic payment methods, preferablysuited for mobile devices, may also be available as preferred paymentmethods.

If, in S606, the business client is not enabled for an electronicpayment method, then the system generates a disbursement notification tothe recipient in S608 with a link to a payment portal. In S610, therecipient views the disbursement notification, which may be an email,and accesses the payment portal through a provided link. In S612, thesystem presents an interface with standard remittance options, such asACH, and prepaid or virtual account remittance options. In S614, afterreceiving user input, the system disburses the funds through ACH orcredit virtual account. In S616, if the disbursement is to a prepaidaccount, the system may determine if the customer has a card. If thecustomer does not have a card in S618, the system may initiate cardfulfillment. If the customer does have a card, the disbursement iscompleted and the process ends in S694.

If in S606, the business client is enabled for electronic disbursementthrough email or to a mobile device, the system uses the customerinformation from the disbursement instruction to call a lookup interfacein S620. For example, the system may utilize recipient identifyinginformation, such as a recipient email address or recipient mobilenumber in S620. In S622, the system determines if the contactinformation of the recipient is recognized..

If the recipient is not recognized in S622, in S628, the systemgenerates a disbursement notification to the recipient with a link to apayment portal. The recipient accesses the portal in S630 and anotherlookup is optionally performed in S632. This additional lookup isperformed in the event that the recipient has enabled electronic paymentoptions since the time of the most recent lookup. If the recipient hasnot subsequently enrolled in an email or mobile payment program asdetermined in S632, the system checks third party registries forrecipient contact information in S634. Third party registry informationmay be stored, for example, in an electronic transfers clearinghouse. Ifthird party registry information is not found in S636, the systempresents disbursement detail with standard remittance options in S650and proceeds with standard disbursement channels described above inS614.

If third party registry information is found in S636, the systempresents the disbursement page with an option for mobile or emailremittance in S650. If the customer chooses not to receive email ormobile remittance in S654, the system will proceed with the standarddisbursement process of S614. However, if the recipient selects an emailor mobile delivery in S654, the system stores the delivery preference inS656 and initiates payment processing in S660.

Returning to S622, if the system finds that the recipient contactinformation is recognized (and thus, both the business client andrecipient are enabled for email or mobile delivery, the systemdetermines if the recipient email address has a saved deliverypreference in S624. If the recipient email address does not show a saveddelivery preference in S624, the system generates a disbursementnotification to the recipient with an option for email mobile deliveryor a link to a basic portal for other options in S640. The recipientreviews the email and selects the disbursement option in S642. If therecipient selects the email mobile option in S642, the system presents apage to set the delivery preference in S656. However, if the recipientdoes not select the email or mobile option in S642, the system returnsto S650 to present the disbursement detail with an option for email ormobile remittance in S650.

Returning to S660, if the email address does include a saved email ormobile preference, the system creates a payment for the recipient usingthe business client profile in S662. The system will also proceed toS664 to notify the recipient of the payment in S668. If the recipientselects the link to view disbursement details in S670, the recipient ispresented with disbursement details and associated offers in S672.

If on the other hand, the user does not select the link to view detailsin S670 or does not select the offer in S676, the recipient may acceptpayment in S678 and the system may credit the recipient receivingaccount in S682 and provide reporting to the client for completeddisbursements. The recipient may also decline the payment in S678, inwhich case the system notifies the business client of the declined orexpired payment in S680.

If the recipient views the offer selected in S676, the system maypresent the recipient with an offer fulfillment page with redemptionoptions in S684. If the recipient does not redeem the offer in S686, thesystem proceeds to S678 where the recipient can accept or decline thepayment. If the recipient does redeem the offer in S686, the system maybe operable to deduct the balance from the disbursement as applicable inS690. If any balance is remaining in S692, the recipient may again havethe opportunity to accept the payment. If no disbursement balanceremains, the process may end in S692. Thus, the method illustrated inFIG. 6 enables quick, efficient, payment when preferred electronicpayment methods are enabled by both the business client and therecipient. The system thus encourages enrollment in order to facilitatepayments.

FIG. 7 is a user interface 700 illustrating a business client mobiledevice landing page in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.The user interface 700 may appear on a mobile device, such as asmartphone or a tablet. The mobile landing page may be co-branded. Inthe illustrated embodiment, the mobile landing page is co-brandedbetween Facebook® and JPMorgan Chase®. The mobile landing page mayinclude an alerts section 702, a payments section 710, a “send payment”option 720, a list of recent payments 730, and messages 740.

The alerts section 702 may include any kind of alerts related todisbursement notification, disbursement acceptance or disbursementexpiration. The alerts section 702 may also include alerts related tooffer generation or acceptance or alerts related to overall systemstatus.

The payments section 710 may allow the business clients to access acustomer list and formulate disbursement instructions. For example, uponselecting the send payment option 720, the business client may formulatea disbursement request to a selected customer.

The list 730 of recent payments may include the payee name, the program,such as a rewards program, a reference ID, amount, status and paymentdate. In embodiments of the invention, the interface may also presentsearch capabilities, such that system users can view the status ofpayments. For example, the user may view only declined payments, expiredpayments, or accepted payments.

The messages 740 may include communications to system users. Forexample, in the displayed embodiment, the message advises system usersof a system outage and of new limits on rewards programs. In addition tothe messages 740, other communications such as alerts and documents mayalso be included.

FIG. 8 is a user interface 800 illustrating a customized disbursementnotification email in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Asset forth above, the notification email may also be co-branded. In theillustrated embodiment, the email is co-branded between JPMorgan Chase®and Facebook®. A message 810 explains to a payment recipient that apayment is waiting. The message 810 explains how to accept the payment.Acceptance of the payment should be simple and seamless, preferablyinvolving only one customer step. Upon activating the acceptance button,the customer may link to a website showing a confirmation that thepayment is being processed. No other action is required on the part ofthe customer. The link preferably contains data that allows the websiteto identify the customer and the specific disbursement for processing,thus avoiding the need for further action or data entry by the customer.Data 820 describes the payment to provide the customer with familiarity.The data 820 may include an amount, a description, a verification code,and a type of payment. In the illustrated embodiment, the payment is avendor payment that refunds $300 to the recipient. The message 800 alsoprovides an option 830 to accept the payment. Further information isprovided explaining that the payment will expire if not accepted anddescribing any additional available methods for accepting the money.

FIG. 9 is a user interface 900 illustrating a customer landing page fordisbursement review in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.The landing page 900 may also be co-branded, with the current embodimentillustrating co-branding between JPMorgan Chase® and Facebook®. Thepresentation of the landing page may be based on customer enrollment inthe disbursement system. Thus, upon receiving the initial disbursementnotification, customers may be given an opportunity to enroll, but maynot be presented with the landing page. On the landing page 900, apayment history section 910 may allow a customer to access a list ofrecent payments. A payment description section 920 may provideinformation about a payment currently available for acceptance and theterms and conditions of the payment. As illustrated, a $300 payment froma rewards program is awaiting acceptance and has an acceptance deadline.An option 930 is provided to accept the payment and an option 940 allowsthe customer to decline the payment. Customers may view terms andconditions attached to the payment and may want to decline the paymentwhen the terms and conditions are not acceptable. For example, terms andconditions may specify that the payment is a full reimbursement and thecustomer may believe the payment is insufficient. In this instance, thecustomer would decline the payment. Upon acceptance of the payment,various selectable options including transfer to a bank account 950,viewing of a virtual debit card 960, viewing account activity 970,managing account 980, and profile settings 990 may be provided. Similaroptions may be provided if the customer declines the payment. For thebank account transfer option 950, the account may be a virtual account,a credit account, a traditional savings, checking account, or any othertype of account. The profile settings 990 may allow the customer tocreate or modify the customer profile, which includes settings, details,and default options. For viewing of account activity 970, customers maybe enabled to view payment history along with details accompanying eachpayment.

Thus, once the disbursement is made, the customer receives a brandedemail explaining the payment including the amount. The email may includea high level explanation and amount of payment. For example, the paymentmay be a vendor payment for a refund. The email may also link to websiteto accept the payment that also provides additional details and anopportunity to enroll in a person-to person payments plan and inembodiments of the invention, to create a profile dictating the handlingof payments. After enrollment, customers are presented with thepersonalized landing page of FIG. 9.

Typically, customers are not enrolled until they accept an offer forenrollment upon accepting a payment. At the time of enrollment, thecustomer profile may be developed with customer input to include profileinformation and default settings. Enrolled customers may see terms andconditions and financial accounts records upon viewing a payment.

In instances where the customer declines the payment, the system mayascertain the reason and operate accordingly. For example, if thecustomer declines the payment due to unacceptable terms and conditions,the system may issue a subsequent communication and request for input.However, if the customer declines the payment simply because thecustomer does not want to receive the payment through the interface, thebusiness client may pay the customer in an ordinary manner, such as byproviding a check.

If the customer views the payment, but ignores it, the system maygenerate reminders. The system may log the fact that an email has beenviewed, but that the payment has not been accepted. The system may sendrepeated reminders prior to the expiration date until the customer acts.

FIG. 10 is a user interface 1000 that includes client branded deals andoffers. Such deals and offers 1010 may be provided upon paymentnotification or when a customer accepts a payment. The illustrated offeris co-branded between Delta and Chase. The offer provides flightspecials 1020 illustrating branded deals and offers in accordance withan embodiment of the invention. Customers may be provided with immediatebooking opportunities and further may be provided with information 1030to explain the deals and offers and provide information about thesponsor of the deals and offers.

This system and method as described herein can be utilized in manyindustries. For example, the system has utility in the travel industry,particularly in the context of cruise lines and airlines. In the cruiseline industry, the system can be utilized to facilitate onboard refunds.In the airline industry, refunds or rebates may be due in instanceswhere flights are overbooked and customers are denied boarding, or incases in which the airlines compensate customers for lost luggage, orhotel and food costs during delays.

The system also has applicability in the automobile sales industry.Automobile sales are frequently accompanied by various marketingprograms, such as cash back incentive programs or cash back rebateprograms. Additionally, automobile financing solutions periodicallyrequire refunds on overpayment of loans. While these rebates arecurrently provided to automobile distributors by check or on prepaidcards, the disbursement process can be expensive for the distributors.Using the system of the invention, automobile distributors would moreeasily and inexpensively be able to transfer disbursements to customers.

The system and method of the invention may additionally be useful in theinsurance industry to enable insurers to more easily provide refunds foroverpayment of premiums and payment of insurance claims. The paymentsmay be single payments, recurring payments, in batch, or individual. Ina related context, shippers, such as UPS® or FedEx® may utilize thesystem to address claims for lost or damaged packages as currentprocesses for addressing these claims are complicated.

In a further context, utility companies may also utilize the system andmethod of the invention to provide refunds for overpayment of bills,refunds for corrections or service outages or royalty payments. In yetan additional context, non-profit entities may utilize the system forcollection of donations. Governmental entities may utilize the systemfor collection of taxes and refund of overpayments. Higher educationalinstitutions may utilize the system refund overpayment when a loan isapplied and for collection of tuition.

The system as illustrated in the block diagrams and flowcharts of FIGS.1-6 includes one or more computer processors capable of accessing storeddata and instructions to perform various steps and may operate inconjunction with software modules described herein in order to performvarious functions. Many processors may be suitable and will be furtherdescribed below. All of the described engines, generators, and othercomponents may be or include software modules that are executed by theprocessor to perform their stated functions. Although the softwaremodules are shown as discrete components, they may be integrated invarious ways in accordance with embodiments of the invention.

All of the components shown in the FIGs. above may be, include, or beimplemented by a computer or multiple computers. The system of theinvention or portions of the system of the invention may be in the formof a “processing machine,” i.e. a tangibly embodied machine, such as ageneral purpose computer or a special purpose computer, for example. Asused herein, the term “processing machine” is to be understood toinclude at least one processor that uses at least one memory. The atleast one memory stores a set of instructions. The instructions may beeither permanently or temporarily stored in the memory or memories ofthe processing machine. The processor executes the instructions that arestored in the memory or memories in order to process data. The set ofinstructions may include various instructions that perform a particulartask or tasks, such as any of the processing as described herein. Such aset of instructions for performing a particular task may becharacterized as a program, software program, or simply software.

As noted above, the processing machine, which may be constituted, forexample, by the particular system and/or systems described above,executes the instructions that are stored in the memory or memories toprocess data. This processing of data may be in response to commands bya user or users of the processing machine, in response to previousprocessing, in response to a request by another processing machineand/or any other input, for example. As noted above, the processingmachine used to implement the invention may be a general purposecomputer. However, the processing machine described above may alsoutilize (or be in the form of) any of a wide variety of othertechnologies including a special purpose computer, a computer systemincluding a microcomputer, mini-computer or mainframe for example, aprogrammed microprocessor, a micro-controller, a peripheral integratedcircuit element, a CSIC (Customer Specific Integrated Circuit) or ASIC(Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or other integrated circuit, alogic circuit, a digital signal processor, a programmable logic devicesuch as a FPGA, PLD, PLA or PAL, or any other device or arrangement ofdevices that is capable of implementing the steps of the processes ofthe invention.

The processing machine used to implement the invention may utilize asuitable operating system. Thus, embodiments of the invention mayinclude a processing machine running the Microsoft Windows™ Vista™operating system, the Microsoft Windows™ XP™ operating system, theMicrosoft Windows™ NT™ operating system, the Windows™ 2000 operatingsystem, the Unix operating system, the Linux operating system, the Xenixoperating system, the IBM AIX™ operating system, the Hewlett-Packard UX™operating system, the Novell Netware™ operating system, the SunMicrosystems Solaris™ operating system, the OS/2™ operating system, theBeOS™ operating system, the Macintosh operating system, the Apacheoperating system, an OpenStep™ operating system or another operatingsystem or platform. It is appreciated that in order to practice themethod of the invention as described above, it is not necessary that theprocessors and/or the memories of the processing machine be physicallylocated in the same geographical place. That is, each of the processorsand the memories used by the processing machine may be located ingeographically distinct locations and connected so as to communicate inany suitable manner. Additionally, it is appreciated that each of theprocessor and/or the memory may be composed of different physical piecesof equipment. Accordingly, it is not necessary that the processor be onesingle piece of equipment in one location and that the memory be anothersingle piece of equipment in another location. That is, it iscontemplated that the processor may be two pieces of equipment in twodifferent physical locations. The two distinct pieces of equipment maybe connected in any suitable manner. Additionally, the memory mayinclude two or more portions of memory in two or more physicallocations.

To explain further, processing as described above is performed byvarious components and various memories. However, it is appreciated thatthe processing performed by two distinct components as described abovemay, in accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, beperformed by a single component. Further, the processing performed byone distinct component as described above may be performed by twodistinct components. In a similar manner, the memory storage performedby two distinct memory portions as described above may, in accordancewith a further embodiment of the invention, be performed by a singlememory portion. Further, the memory storage performed by one distinctmemory portion as described above may be performed by two memoryportions.

Further, various technologies may be used to provide communicationbetween the various processors and/or memories, as well as to allow theprocessors and/or the memories of the invention to communicate with anyother entity; i.e., so as to obtain further instructions or to accessand use remote memory stores, for example. Such technologies used toprovide such communication might include a network, the Internet,Intranet, Extranet, LAN, an Ethernet, or any client server system thatprovides communication, for example. Such communications technologiesmay use any suitable protocol such as TCP/IP, UDP, or OSI, for example.

As described above, a set of instructions is used in the processing ofthe invention. The set of instructions may be in the form of a programor software. The software may be in the form of system software orapplication software, for example. The software might also be in theform of a collection of separate programs, a program module within alarger program, or a portion of a program module, for example. Thesoftware used might also include modular programming in the form ofobject oriented programming. The software tells the processing machinewhat to do with the data being processed.

Further, it is appreciated that the instructions or set of instructionsused in the implementation and operation of the invention may be in asuitable form such that the processing machine may read theinstructions. For example, the instructions that form a program may bein the form of a suitable programming language, which is converted tomachine language or object code to allow the processor or processors toread the instructions. That is, written lines of programming code orsource code, in a particular programming language, are converted tomachine language using a compiler, assembler or interpreter. The machinelanguage is binary coded machine instructions that are specific to aparticular type of processing machine, i.e., to a particular type ofcomputer, for example. The computer understands the machine language.

Any suitable programming language may be used in accordance with thevarious embodiments of the invention. Illustratively, the programminglanguage used may include assembly language, Ada, APL, Basic, C, C++,COBOL, dBase, Forth, Fortran, Java, Modula-2, Pascal, Prolog, REXX,Visual Basic, and/or JavaScript, for example. Further, it is notnecessary that a single type of instructions or single programminglanguage be utilized in conjunction with the operation of the system andmethod of the invention. Rather, any number of different programminglanguages may be utilized as is necessary or desirable.

Also, the instructions and/or data used in the practice of the inventionmay utilize any compression or encryption technique or algorithm, as maybe desired. An encryption module might be used to encrypt data. Further,files or other data may be decrypted using a suitable decryption module,for example.

As described above, the invention may illustratively be embodied in theform of a processing machine, including a computer or computer system,for example, that includes at least one memory. It is to be appreciatedthat the set of instructions, i.e., the software for example thatenables the computer operating system to perform the operationsdescribed above may be contained on any of a wide variety of media ormedium, as desired. Further, the data that is processed by the set ofinstructions might also be contained on any of a wide variety of mediaor medium. That is, the particular medium, i.e., the memory in theprocessing machine, utilized to hold the set of instructions and/or thedata used in the invention may take on any of a variety of physicalforms or transmissions, for example. Illustratively, the medium may bein the form of paper, paper transparencies, a compact disk, a DVD, anintegrated circuit, a hard disk, a floppy disk, an optical disk, amagnetic tape, a RAM, a ROM, a PROM, a EPROM, a wire, a cable, a fiber,communications channel, a satellite transmissions or other remotetransmission, as well as any other medium or source of data that may beread by the processors of the invention.

Further, the memory or memories used in the processing machine thatimplements the invention may be in any of a wide variety of forms toallow the memory to hold instructions, data, or other information, as isdesired. Thus, the memory might be in the form of a database to holddata. The database might use any desired arrangement of files such as aflat file arrangement or a relational database arrangement, for example.

In the system and method of the invention, a variety of “userinterfaces” may be utilized to allow a user to interface with theprocessing machine or machines that are used to implement the invention.As used herein, a user interface includes any hardware, software, orcombination of hardware and software used by the processing machine thatallows a user to interact with the processing machine. A user interfacemay be in the form of a dialogue screen for example. A user interfacemay also include any of a mouse, touch screen, keyboard, voice reader,voice recognizer, dialogue screen, menu box, list, checkbox, toggleswitch, a pushbutton or any other device that allows a user to receiveinformation regarding the operation of the processing machine as itprocesses a set of instructions and/or provide the processing machinewith information. Accordingly, the user interface is any device thatprovides communication between a user and a processing machine. Theinformation provided by the user to the processing machine through theuser interface may be in the form of a command, a selection of data, orsome other input, for example.

As discussed above, a user interface is utilized by the processingmachine that performs a set of instructions such that the processingmachine processes data for a user. The user interface is typically usedby the processing machine for interacting with a user either to conveyinformation or receive information from the user. However, it should beappreciated that in accordance with some embodiments of the system andmethod of the invention, it is not necessary that a human user actuallyinteract with a user interface used by the processing machine of theinvention. Rather, it is also contemplated that the user interface ofthe invention might interact, i.e., convey and receive information, withanother processing machine, rather than a human user. Accordingly, theother processing machine might be characterized as a user. Further, itis contemplated that a user interface utilized in the system and methodof the invention may interact partially with another processing machineor processing machines, while also interacting partially with a humanuser.

Embodiments of the invention are particularly useful in the context ofhigh volume, low value payments. The system and method may be used, forexample, for rebates and refunds in connection with automobilepurchases, airline rebates for damaged baggage or cancellations, airlinevouchers for hotels or restaurants, or cruise line rebates. The systemmay also be used in connection with insurance payments for payment ofclaims or premium refunds. As set forth above, the system may also beused in connection with donation collection and tax refunds.

It will be readily understood by those persons skilled in the art thatthe present invention is susceptible to broad utility and application.Many embodiments and adaptations of the present invention other thanthose herein described, as well as many variations, modifications andequivalent arrangements, will be apparent from or reasonably suggestedby the present invention and foregoing description thereof, withoutdeparting from the substance or scope of the invention.

Accordingly, while the present invention has been described here indetail in relation to its exemplary embodiments, it is to be understoodthat this disclosure is only illustrative and exemplary of the presentinvention and is made to provide an enabling disclosure of theinvention. Accordingly, the foregoing disclosure is not intended to beconstrued or to limit the present invention or otherwise to exclude anyother such embodiments, adaptations, variations, modifications andequivalent arrangements.

While particular embodiments of the invention have been illustrated anddescribed in detail herein, it should be understood that various changesand modifications might be made to the invention without departing fromthe scope and intent of the invention.

From the foregoing it will be seen that this invention is one welladapted to attain all the ends and objects set forth above, togetherwith other advantages, which are obvious and inherent to the system andmethod. It will be understood that certain features and sub-combinationsare of utility and may be employed without reference to other featuresand sub-combinations. This is contemplated and within the scope of thedisclosed invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for managing electronic disbursementstransferred from a business client of a financial institution tocustomers of the business client, the system comprising: anon-transitory memory that stores instructions; and a processor, whichwhen executing the instructions stored in the non-transitory memory,operates as: a disbursement instruction processor that receives adisbursement instruction stored in the non-transitory memory, over anetwork from a business client system, the disbursement instructionprocessor configured to process the disbursement instruction andperforming processes including: using a customer identifier to determineavailable payment channels for the customer; and selecting an electronicpayment channel when available payment channels include an electronicpayment channel; an offer generator that selects an offer based on thedisbursement instruction; and a client payment manager that disbursesthe payment in accordance with the disbursement instruction using theselected payment channel, and that sends an electronic disbursementnotification to the customer, the notification including access to theselected offer.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the disbursementinstruction processor receives a batch file of disbursementinstructions.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the disbursementinstruction processor receives a single disbursement instruction.
 4. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein using a customer identifier to determineavailable payment channels comprises accessing a customer profile in acustomer database.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein each disbursementinstruction includes a customer identifier including at least an emailaddress or a mobile phone number.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein thedisbursement instruction further includes a business client brand, thebusiness client account information, and a disbursement description. 7.The system of claim 1, wherein the offer is context sensitive and isbased on a description of the disbursement.
 8. The system of claim 1,wherein the offer generator selects the offer by extracting informationfrom the disbursement instruction including customer data and clientdata, the offer generator accessing an offer database, selecting atleast one offer based on the extracted information, and correlating theoffer with the disbursement.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the offeris from client generating disbursement instruction.
 10. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the offer is not from the client generating thedisbursement instruction and is from a different client.
 11. The systemof claim 1, wherein the system generates multiple offers with a singledisbursement instruction.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein a customerreceipt manager directs the disbursement to an appropriate location. 13.The system of claim 12, wherein the location is a virtual account. 14.The system of claim 11, wherein the virtual account has limited spendcapabilities.
 15. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor, whenexecuting the instructions stored in the non-transitory memory, furtheroperates as a disbursement status monitor that monitors disbursementsfor expiration, and notifies the business client that an alternativepayment method is required.
 16. The system of claim 1, wherein thedisbursement notification includes a co-branded user interfaceexplaining the disbursement.
 17. The system of claim 16, wherein theuser interface allows selection of location for the disbursementincluding one of a virtual account, bank account, a prepaid card, and acredit card.
 18. The system of claim 16, wherein the user interfaceallows the customer to decline payment.
 19. The system of claim 1,wherein the disbursement processor directs the disbursement inaccordance with rules stored in a customer profile.
 20. A method formanaging electronic disbursements transferred from a business client ofa financial institution to customers of the business client, the methodcomprising: receiving a disbursement instruction from a business clientsystem over a network, the disbursement instruction processor processingthe disbursement instruction to perform processes including: analyzingthe disbursement instruction to extract customer identificationinformation; using the customer identification information to determineavailable payment channels for the customer; and selecting an electronicchannel when the available payment channels include an electronicpayment channel; disbursing the payment in accordance with thedisbursement instruction using the selected channel and sending anelectronic notification to the customer of the disbursement; andmonitoring acceptance of the disbursement by the customer and notifyingthe business client when the disbursement expires without acceptance bythe customer.